


Born Into

by Skyler10



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Interfering TARDIS, Pete's World, Pete's World Torchwood, TARDIS rooms, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-06-02 14:56:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6570601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyler10/pseuds/Skyler10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tentoo and Rose are happy as Torchwood agents and as time-and-space travelers once again. It’s a risky life, but working on their new TARDIS as she grows provides them with rest in between the danger. But why is their young time-machine-spaceship locking them out of one room in particular? What does she know that they don’t?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Born Into

**Author's Note:**

> For both TimePetals prompts of the week: “Birth” and “What happens when Rose (or another companion) stumbles upon a forbidden part of the TARDIS?” Exactly what you think it’s going to be.

For the most part, growing the new TARDIS was something they did together. The plan was for the baby ship to bond with both of them, for her to eventually become their true home and the flat to become more of a… base. A mailing address. A place to land when they were in London.

Granted, Rose was more of the expert when it came to aesthetics and practicality, and Doctor was the engineer behind making it functional, so they each had their projects and input, but for the most part, it was a partnership between the three of them: human, part-alien, and shiny blue box.

But there was one room the sentient timeship wanted to be a surprise. She wouldn’t tell her pilots or even let them in, and nothing they did would change her mind. So Rose huffed and folded her arms and resigned herself to being surprised when the time came. The Doctor, however, was relentless in trying to trick the little ship into letting him in the secret room, or at least, in on the secret.

“C’mon, it can still be a surprise for Rose, alright?” he mumbled between whirs of the sonic against the wooden door.

“Excuse me?” Rose walked up behind her husband with hands planted on her hips and eyebrows raised.

“Um… That is… you know I just want to make sure it’s safe… and not draining too much of her energy and…” The human-Time Lord metacrisis adorably tugged at his ear and ran his tongue along the back of his teeth. Rose counted his tells as she waited for him to babble his way of out this one.

“You have to be the most impatient Lord of _Time_ in the entire universe.”

“I’m the _only_ Lord of Time in this universe,” he finished their bit. It was a thing they had done for years now, joking about it. It was their way. Laughing in the face of anything that tried to bring them down or break them apart.  

“You know what I meant.” She pretended to still be offended, but couldn’t hide her smile at his wink. Oh, he was far too attractive and she was too far gone for him and he knew it.

“I just want to know what she’s hiding from us. And how long we have to wait.” He pouted.

“I could think of other things we can be doing to bide the time.” Rose let her gaze wander down his tussled form: shirt-sleeves rolled up to his elbows, grease stain on his cheek, ruffled hair. She let her affection show, reveling in the freedom to do so, a freedom she had not possessed years ago, in the other universe, before… everything.

He seemed to catch on to her train of thought and tucked his sonic back in his pocket.

“You know, you’re right. We could test out the bedroom again. Make sure everything’s up to standard. Third time’s a charm, as they say.” He waggled his eyebrows and caught her eyes. The intensity of his chocolate brown stare could still take her breath away, after all this time.

“That would be for the best, yeah. It’s the only really wise thing to do.” Rose nodded seriously before grinning and taking his hand.

* * *

 

The young TARDIS hummed in relief. The sonic had been tickling her through the metal of the doorknob, and it had been harder and harder not to let him in. Plus, with the two of them occupied, she could work on her special project.

Of course, it was _those_ kinds of activities that necessitated the surprise room in the first place. The two lovebirds had no idea what was coming. They were completely unsuspecting of what tomorrow would bring.

But she did. She existed both inside and outside of their timestream, of course. She knew all of the past that her mother had passed down to her as a chunk of coral, and she was already developing a limited scope of the future. Especially where her people were concerned.

The TARDIS could already hear the light giggles, the lullabies, the coos of delight that would echo in this room. She concentrated on those as she altered her molecular structure. This wall red with a silver tree; that wall green on bottom and light blue with white clouds on top; another wall blackish blue with orange and purple nebulas; the fourth a soothing, happy yellow; a ceiling of constellations, soft carpet-like flooring. She analyzed her work. _A false window in the middle of the blue and green wall. Yes, just there._

* * *

 

Rose’s first two times waking up in their bed on the TARDIS had been on weekends. Short trips across Britain, just test-drives. She had slept in those mornings and reveled in the comfort of the duvet, the warmth of her husband beside her, and the luxury of being on holiday, even if it was just for a day or two.

Today, however, was neither a weekend nor a holiday. It was a Wednesday. A boring, normal, workday. What’s worse, they had to be in early today for mandatory annual medical exams. Even after all she had seen and been through, the thought of bloodwork made her stomach turn.

Could one call in sick to a medical exam? Probably not.

Rose rolled over to find herself alone in bed. The smell of eggs combined with mechanic’s oil wafted down the corridor. God, that was a terrible thing to wake up to first thing in the morning. He really needed to stop trying to tinker while waiting for breakfast to cook. She fought back the nausea of the smell and forced herself up and into the shower.

* * *

 

Five hours later, Rose sat on an exam table in the Torchwood medical wing, waiting for her lab-work results to clear her for another year in the field. The Doctor sat on the spinning stool that all medical offices seem to have, sucking on a lolly he found in a drawer (after playing with all the equipment in the room).

“You know,” he smacked out around his stolen treat, “they were rather rude when I suggested a few improvements to the x-ray machine last time. I wonder if that’s why Dr. Peters is keeping us waiting so long. Do think she is still cross with me?”

Rose just shook her head and giggled at his spinning side-to-side, never turning his back on her in a full circle. He began to fidget with the vertical adjustment when he got bored with horizontal movement.

“I know you probably looked completely different back then,” she confessed, “But I can so clearly picture you as a kid, just like you are now, but smaller.”

“Well, as a kid I’ll bet you were…” he trailed off as his fidgeting slowed to a stop. He stilled his body completely as he regarded her, and something passed over his face she couldn’t read.

“What?” She blushed and squirmed at his sudden attention. His abrupt switches from manic energy to calm still unnerved her a bit, if she was honest.

“Nothing,” he stuttered, though whatever it was – Awe? Wonder? Curiosity? – on his face didn’t quite leave completely. “Just had a thought. That’s all.”

“’Bout?” she prodded, but too late. A quick knock and the door opened to reveal the physician with lab results in hand.

The Torchwood doctor was positively beaming.

* * *

 

They took the rest of the day off, processing the news and planning and walking off their nervous energy in the park. By the time they got back home, they were exhausted and ecstatic and still had no more answers than they had when the left the physician’s office as to how they were going to make this work.

They fell asleep in each other’s arms easily that night, but now Rose was wide awake. She resigned herself to getting up, both to avoid waking the Doctor and to seek the comfort of a soothing cuppa.

Tea in mug in hand, she realized she couldn’t stay still in the kitchen either. She wandered the halls of the new timeship. This TARDIS was still small, smaller than her parents’ mansion, much less the old universe’s labyrinthine old police box.  So Rose couldn’t help but pass by the forbidden room in her wandering.

She didn’t stop, knowing the ship’s determination to keep her out, but a creaking noise made her pause as she passed. Looking back at the door, she telepathically nudged her TARDIS, asking if it was intentional.

The door squeaked again and swung open.

Rose hesitated, wondering if she should wake the Doctor. The TARDIS sent the mental equivalent of “don’t worry about it.” Lamps and artificial stars gave the room as soft glow, beckoning Rose into their warmth.

As soon as she stepped inside, she knew.

The young ship had been birthing a nursery.

Rose’s breath caught in her throat as tears welled up. The silver leaves she’d only heard stories of sparkled in the lamp light, as if a gentle breeze rustled them against a sunset-fiery sky.

She took it all in: nebulas birthing stars, the slow roll of clouds across an Earthlike sky and a window framed by curtains, Gallifrey, a night sky that rotated ever so slightly if you really looked.

“Thank you,” she whispered up to the ceiling. She carefully put down her tea mug on the windowsill and walked around the nursery to examine it more closely, revealing in the peace that washed over her just being in this room. All of her anxieties about how this baby was going to change everything about their lives… suddenly none of that threatened to overwhelm her for the first time since she got the news that morning.

“Oh,” the Doctor breathed in amazement behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his hands on her stomach. “This is incredible. Is it…”  

“Yeah, I think it is,” Rose sighed and relaxed back against him. “She knew. Even before we did.”

“Explains why she wouldn’t let us in.”

“Hmm. Or she is just as impatient as you are.”

“Oi. Well. Guess I’m going to have to be patient now. I’m a dad, after all.”

Happy tears once again threated to spill down her cheeks.

“Yeah you are. I’m a mum…” She tested the words out on her tongue. “That feels so weird to say out loud. I’m a mum.”

The Doctor made a giddy humming sound and nuzzled her neck.

“Love?” she whispered though it was just the two of them – well, and their ship – in the room.

“Yes?” he murmured against her ear.

“I think…” Rose let out a breath and tried again. “I think she’s trying to tell us it’s gonna be ok. Our life, the traveling… I think it’s more than that she’s happy or can see into the future. I think she’s sending us a message.”

“Yeah? I think so too. Better yet, you know what?”

“Wha?”

“I think she’s right. And I can’t think of a better life or home for this baby to be born into.”

Rose didn’t have any reply other than to kiss him until he swept her up in his arms and carried her back to their bed.

 

 


End file.
